Perhaps the most profitable truck shipment ever to go out of Elizabeth City was a carload of truck peas or May peas, which sold this morning in New York for $12 a basket. This is the greatest price ever received for May peas in this section, the highest price received last Spring being about $4.50. These peas were shipped by C.O. Robinson of Elizabeth City. The large baskets sold for $12 each and the smaller ones for $10.50. Needless to say, Mr. Robinson is pleased with results and is a stronger advocate of diversification of crops. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” is his advice to farmers, and he practices what he preaches.
Ten dollars a basket was the record price received yesterday by Preston Jennings of this county for seven baskets of May peas shipped to New York City thru the firm of Spence-Hollowell Co. of this city. J.D. Sykes and Milton Cartwright who shipped peas last week, got $9.50 a basket for theirs when they were sold on the New York market Saturday.
The carload shipped by C.O. Robinson contained about 225 baskets, 175 of which were grown on the Robinson farm and the remainder were shipped by other growers. Mr. Robinson is pleased with the results of his crop and believes late peas are no more unprofitable than any other truck crops all of which are more or less a gamble. However, he believes that the losses of bad seasons will be more than offset by the results of good seasons.
Frost has done only slight damage to the crop, for while it kills the blooms and prevents more peas from forming, it does not check the growth of the peas already under way. These mature in spite of cool weather, and although the vines of Mr. Robinson have been picked closely, about as many peas are expected at the second picking.
The record prices for truck peas, prevailing this fall, has stirred up interest in the late crops and farmers are seriously considering planting them for another season. Many farmers as well as local produce men were somewhat discouraged with prospects at the beginning of the season, chiefly because of a poor yield, but those who got their crops off comparatively late have found that the returns made up for the lossage in the yield.
Of course, the late growing of fall peas is more or less a gamble, just as other truck crops are a gamble, but the farmers have learned more about planting them and are reducing the risks of cultivation. Last year was the first time fall crops were planted in this section, although farmers in tidewater Virginia have been growing them for several years.
Fall plantings require a better grade of fertilizer and more attention. Farmers have noticed that considerable attention must be paid to the quality of land used. Peas mature quicker in light sandy soils, and should be planted later in this kind of soil, than in heavy wet soils.
Speaking of results obtained by growers this fall, Dr. L.S. Blades of Spence-Hollowell Company, states that farmers with whom he has talked are very much enthused over results, and expect to plant another year. While being a promoter of the first experiments in fall plannings in this county, Dr. Blades is not advocating a continuance of fall crops, but is going to leave it up to the farmers. Having encouraged the idea, he is going to let results show farmers whether the crop is profitable. A good part of the success of peas in this county is due to the experiments of Dr. Blades and the Spence-Hollowell Co., who are always anxious to start the farmers off into something profitable.
From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Nov. 21, 1922
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